Féile Fidelma International Gathering In Cashel September 12th Next

The 5th three-day gathering of international enthusiasts of the best-selling historical crime series “The Sister Fidelma Mysteries,” by Peter Tremayne will be held in The Cashel Palace Hotel, Cashel, Co Tipperary from Friday 12th to Sunday 14th September 2014.

The series, which has been published in some 18 languages to date, is set in 7th century Ireland, whose sleuthing heroine is Fidelma, sister of King Colgú of Munster. With her companion, a Saxon, Brother Eadulf, she is an advocate of the Brehon Laws of old Ireland. There are now 25 books in this series.

The event will be extra special as it will coincide with the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the first ever Sister Fidelma novel entitled “Absolution by Murder” published in 1994.

Online registration is now open. You may pay in Euro or dollars. Full registration is €160 or US$225. This fee covers the opening reception on Friday evening, a registration pack, three days of talks, an outing to Coolmore Stud Farm to accompany a talk on the horse breeds in Fidelma’s day, tea/coffee breaks and of course the Saturday evening gala dinner with Peter Tremayne and guests.

Day registration is also available, which will include the three lectures and tea/coffee break at €30 per day and €40 if a visit to Coolmore Stud Farm is also to be included.

Please Note: There is limited availability to Coolmore Stud Farm for day registration.

Féile Fidelma 2014 Community Programme of Events

Friday, September 12th 2014
From 18.00-19.00: Registration at The Cashel Palace Hotel.
19.00: Reception by the Mayor of Cashel.
19.30 Official Opening of Féile Fidelma Weekend 2014.
20.00 An Evening with Peter Tremayne.
This will be followed by an informal session in the Cellar Bar.

Professor Edward Rielly from Maine, USA, who was co-editor, with David Robert Wooten, of the academic study “The Sister Fidelma Mysteries”: The Historical Novels of Peter Tremayne (2012). Rielly is Professor of English at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine in the U.S.A.

Professor Pádraig Ó Riain is Ireland’s leading scholastic expert of the Fidelma’s period. Ó Riain is an Irish Celticist and prominent hagiologist focusing on Irish hagiography, martyrdom, mythology, onomastics and codicology. He has spent much of his academic life at the University College Cork, where he became a lecturer in 1964 and was professor of Old and Middle Irish. He has been a member of the Royal Irish Academy since 1989, president of the Irish Texts Society since 1992, Parnell Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge, since 2002 and more recently, a member of the ‘Place Names Commission of Ireland,’ (Irish: An Coimisiún Logainmneacha).

Dr Ann Buckley is a leading expert on liturgical music in Fidelma’s time. Buckley holds a B.Mus., M.A. (National University of Ireland), doctoral (University of Amsterdam) and a Ph.D. (University of Cambridge) and is a research associate at the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Trinity College, Dublin.

Regina Sexton from University College Cork, who is a food historian, food writer, broadcaster and cook. Sexton has been researching and publishing in the area of Irish food and culinary history since 1993. Her research interests include food and identity, food and tradition and food in the Irish country house. She has published widely at academic and popular levels and is a leading expert on food in Fidelma’s time.

Noel Mullins is an equestrian expert. Mullins has not only authored two books about the origin of horses in Ireland, countless articles in equestrian journals, but he is also an expert advising and appearing in many films and television shows on the subject. In 2005, for example, he played a huntsman in the remake of ‘Lassie’ with Peter O’Toole.

David Robert Wooten is the founder of The International Sister Fidelma Society, its director and editor of its thrice yearly journal The Brehon. Wooten will be introducing and chairing the first evening with the author, Peter Tremayne. He will also be winding up the event on Sunday with his usual look at the state of Fidelma’s World. He will be reflecting on the Society’s thirteen years of existence (it was founded in 2001 and The Brehon was launched in February, 2002). And, of course, he will be examining the Féile Fidelma past and present and future.

Caroline Lennon is the actress acclaimed as the ever popular ‘Voice of Fidelma,’ and who reads the Sister Fidelma Audio Books published by Soundings, Isis Publishing Ltd.

So please do note your calendar and take a break to experience this truly most enjoyable of annual events.